by Wyatt North
“The more I reflect on the graces I have received, the more they astonish me and make me tremble.”
– St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a French-born sister of the Society of the Sacred Heart, was known by the Native Americans she served as “the woman who is always praying.” Born in Grenoble, France in 1769, it wasn’t until 1818 that she realized her longstanding desire to do missionary work among the American Indians. Though originally invited to evangelize among and educate the Indian and French children in the New Orleans area, she and the four sisters who accompanied her ended up in Missouri, in what Sister Rose described as the “the remotest village in the U.S.” where they started a new Sacred Heart convent in a log cabin. Within a decade, the Society of the Sacred Heart had six communities in the United States and operated several schools. In 1841, the Jesuits asked the sisters of the Sacred Heart to help them in their work with the Potawatomi Indians in eastern Kansas, though at 71, she couldn’t master the Potawatomi language and spent much of her time in prayer. After a year, it was clear that Sister Rose’s health was suffering from the rigors of life in what was still the American frontier, and she returned to the Sacred Heart convent in St. Charles, Missouri, where she lived out her remaining years in a tiny room under the stairs. She died in 1852 at the age of 83. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
“Prayer reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures. It fills them with light, strength and consolation; and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home.”
– St. Rose of Viterbo
St. Rose of Viterbo had supernatural and mystical experiences from as young as age three, when she reportedly restored her deceased aunt to life. Even as a young child she was known for aiding the poor and living a life of seclusion and penance in a cell within her family’s home. She is said to have been cured of a serious illness by the Blessed Virgin, who told her to join the Third Order of St. Francis and to preach penance to the people of Viterbo. At the time, Viterbo, Italy was under the rule of Emperor Frederick II of Germany but also claimed by the Vatican. Rose’s street mission as a secular Franciscan was so successful that authorities exiled Rose and her family lest she stir up more supporters for the pope. From the family’s refuge in Sorriano, Italy, Rose allegedly foretold the death of the emperor, which occurred eight days later. She also traveled to Vitorchiano, where the residents were said to be under the spell of a famous sorceress. Legend has it that she stood in a burning pyre for three hours and emerged unscathed, securing the conversion of the residents and the sorceress. When the pope prevailed against the emperor for control of Viterbo in 1251, Rose and her family returned. She was denied entry to the order of St. Mary of the Roses for lack of the required dowry and spent the few remaining months of her life praying and doing penance at home. She died in 1251 at the age of approximately 19 and was canonized in 1457. A 2010 examination of St. Rose of Viterbo’s remains determined that she died from a rare genetic condition that even today is invariably fatal without surgical interventions.
Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.
– St. Rose of Lima
St. Rose of Lima was born in Lima, Peru in 1586, the daughter of Spanish colonists. Her birth name was Isabel Flores de Olivia, but she was given the nickname “Rose” for her exceptional beauty, and she took Rose as her name at her confirmation. Rose always wanted to enter a convent, and as a child she lived as if she were a nun, praying, fasting, and performing penances—all in secret. As she grew into womanhood, she did her best to deter potential suitors by cutting off her hair and rubbing her face with pepper until it blistered. Her parents eventually gave up their goal of seeing her married and allowed her to cloister herself in her room, where she spent long hours in prayer, sleeping only two hours a night. She fasted daily and permanently removed all meat from her diet. She left her room only to go to Mass or to the market to sell her embroidery or flowers she raised to bring in money to help her parents and care for the poor. She often brought home the poor and the sick and took care of them in her own room. Her parents held out hope that she would marry one day, but that was not to be.
“Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggle increases.”
– St. Rose of Lima
Rose’s parents reluctantly allowed her to join the Third Order of St. Dominic when she was 20. She took a vow of perpetual virginity and continued to live a life of great asceticism in her room in her parents’ home in Lima, Peru. She imposed severe penances on herself, such as burning her hands and wearing a crown with spikes that dug into her flesh. During the eleven years of living this way, Rose gained the respect of all who knew of her piety and her efforts on behalf of the poor. When she died in 1617 at the age of 31, her funeral was attended by all the officials of Lima. It is said that she accurately predicted the date of her own death. St. Rose of Lima was beatified 50 years after her death and canonized four years later, becoming the first saint born in the Americas.
S
“I asked you and you would not listen, so I asked my God and He did listen.”
– St. Scholastica (to her brother, St. Benedict of Nursia)
Sister Scholastica (c. 480 – 543) was in the habit of visiting her brother Benedict annually at a guest house near his abbey. They would spend the day praying together and discussing spiritual matters, and then Benedict would return to his cell in accordance with his Rule. The legend maintains that during their last visit, Scholastic had a premonition that she would soon die and asked her brother to stay longer. When he said that he couldn’t, Scholastic folded her hands and prayed silently, and moments later a violent storm began to rage around the guest house. Benedict asked her “What have you done?” and she replied, “I asked you and you would not listen, so I asked my God and He did listen.” Because of the storm, Benedict could not return to his cell, and brother and sister spent the entire night in discussion. Three days later Scholastica died, and at the moment of her death, Benedict reportedly saw her soul ascending to heaven in the form of a white dove.
“The devil strains every nerve to secure the souls which belong to Christ. We should not grudge our toil in wresting them from Satan and giving them back to God.”
– St. Sebastian
Much of what is known about the martyrdom of St. Sebastian comes from a sermon written by St. Ambrose of Milan. According to tradition, Sebastian, a Christian, joined the Roman army in the year 283 to do whatever he could to help those who were being martyred during Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians. He is credited with converting several Romans, including the local prefect, who released all his prisoners from jail. Several of Sebastian’s converts were later martyred. In 286, Sebastian’s identity as a Christian was discovered, and the emperor ordered him to be bound to a stake in a field to be shot full of arrows by archers. Left for dead, he was nursed back to health by Irene of Rome, the widow of the martyred St. Castulus. Two years later, Sebastian was condemned a second time when he stood in a spot the emperor would soon pass and berated him for his persecution of Christians. Diocletian ordered him beaten to death with cudgels and had his body thrown into the sewer. A pious Christian woman removed the body and buried it in the catacombs.
“You desire that which exceeds my humble powers, but I trust in the compassion and mercy of the all-powerful God.”
– St. Stephen
St. Stephen (5 AD – 34 AD) was the eldest of the first seven men to be ordained as deacons of the Church and was named archdeacon. He was also the first Christian martyr. He is believed to have been Jewish, and he was tried by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy against God and Moses. During his trial, Stephen spoke eloquently and quoted from Hebrew Scriptures. He also chastised the Sanhedrin for persecuting the prophets who foretold the birth of the Messiah and for the betrayal and death of Jesus. At the end of his testimony, Stephen
saw a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he told the Sanhedrin what he saw. His words enraged the crowd, who rushed in, seized him, and carried him away to stone him to death. St. Stephen’s last words as stones rained down upon him echoed the words of Jesus on the Cross, forgiving the very people who were killing him.
T
“There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
St. Teresa of Avila’s name at her birth in Avila, Spain in 1515 was Teresa Ali Fatim Corella Sanchez de Capeda y Ahumada. Her father was a wealthy man, the son of a converted Jew who had been condemned by the Inquisition for returning to Judaism. Her parents’ marriage was not a happy one. Teresa often found herself caught in the middle between her sternly pious father and her mother, who hid the romance novels she loved and begged her daughter not to give away her secret. Should she lie to her father, who insisted on honesty in all matters, or betray her mother? She realized in her childhood that she did not want that kind of marriage for herself. The death of her mother when Teresa was only 11 devastated her and left her father all the more determined that his daughter behave properly.
“From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!”
– St. Teresa of Avila
Teresa was a somewhat rebellious teenager, preoccupied with thoughts of boys and stylish clothes, but her strict father’s reaction to her behavior had her convinced that she was very sinful. Believing her to be out of control, he sent her to a Carmelite convent at 16. At first, she viewed it as punishment, but in time she came to like convent life. When she had to decide whether to remain in the convent and take vows or return to the secular world and marry, she was swayed by her fear of ending up like her mother, under the thumb of a stern and demanding husband.
“The more we see that any action springs not from the motive of obedience, the more evident is it that it is a temptation of the enemy; for when God sends an inspiration, the very first effect of it is to infuse a spirit of docility.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
Though Teresa didn’t think being a nun would be fun, she thought a convent was probably the best place for someone as sinful as she believed herself to be. But life as a nun was not as Teresa had envisioned it. In Teresa’s time, many women entered a convent for lack of anywhere else to go or anything else to do with their lives. Nuns often tried to make themselves attractive and entertained male visitors in the parlor. Money mattered. It conferred status and popularity in a way that piety did not. Teresa was easily distracted from her attempts to practice mental prayer by worldly thoughts and desires. She wanted to be liked, which meant acting the way the sisters she wanted to be friends with acted. She found it hard to keep Jesus in her mind, even when teaching mental prayer to visitors to bring in their donations to help the community financially. As much as Teresa wanted to immerse herself in prayer, she found it very difficult.
“Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
For many years in the convent, Teresa strived to learn how to practice mental prayer, which was based on principles favored by medieval mystics, such as the examination of one’s conscience, spiritual self-concentration, and inner contemplation. A serious bout of malaria left Teresa paralyzed for three years and permanently compromised her health. Her condition gave her plenty of excuses not to pray. When those excuses grew old, she blamed her failure to pray often or well on her sinful nature, because sinners didn’t deserve to ask anything of God. At the urging of a priest, she went back to praying when she was 41 but found it almost impossible to quiet her thoughts and focus on God. As she grew more diligent about praying in her forties, Teresa began to have mystical experiences including raptures and even levitation. She viewed these as God’s way of chastising her and getting her to change her behavior.
“We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
Once Teresa began praying in earnest, she began having more and more mystical experiences. She found it uncomfortable to have her ecstasies witnessed by others and begged God not to give her any more “favors” in public. Still, her strong attachment to her friends sometimes distracted her during prayer until God told her that henceforth she should speak only with angels, not human beings. Teresa said that after hearing those words, she was finally able to put God first in her prayers and in her life.
“We are preparing ourselves for the time, which will come very soon, when we shall find ourselves at the end of our journey and shall be drinking of living water from the fountain I have described. Unless we make a total surrender of our will to the Lord and put ourselves in His hands so that He may do in all things what is best for us in accordance with His will, He will never allow us to drink of it.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
After God told Teresa in a vision to speak only with angels, not humans, her friends were unhappy about being cut off from her. They asked a Jesuit to determine whether she had been tricked by the devil into giving up human companionship. His conclusion that Teresa’s visions were indeed of divine origin subjected her to ridicule by many. However, a confessor agreed with Teresa’s friends that her visions were from the devil and told her to make an obscene gesture whenever she thought she saw Jesus. She complied, but apologized to Jesus, who told her she was doing the right thing by obeying her confessor’s instructions. She eventually concluded that the peace, inspiration, and encouragement she got from her visions were proof that they were from God.
“Now and then, I am amazed at the evil one bad companion can do—nor could I believe it if I did not know it by experience—especially when we are young: then is it that the evil must be greatest. Oh, that parents would take warning by me, and look carefully to this!”
– St. Teresa of Avila
Teresa eventually decided that if she wanted an environment that was more conducive to the kind of religious life she sought, then she would found a new, reformed Carmelite convent dedicated to a simple, contemplative life of poverty and prayer. Her decision was met with criticism from all sides. Even when threatened with the Inquisition and legal action by the town, Teresa remained calm and determined, and was supported in her decision by the bishop and by her spiritual guide and counselor, the Franciscan priest, St. Peter of Alcantara. She founded the convent of St. Joseph in Avila in 1562 and received papal approval for her Rule of strict poverty, which she set forth in a “constitution” and a set of regulations that included weekly ceremonial flagellation and discalceation (the practice of going barefoot). The next five years were, for Teresa, a period of seclusion and writing her Life, as she had been ordered to do to clear herself with the Inquisition.
“There is no such thing as bad weather. All weather is good because it is God's.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
Teresa ran the convent she founded, St. Joseph’s, with a spirit of love. Yes, her guiding principles were strict, but they were intended to bring the sisters closer to God by changing their behavior to please Him, not through acts of penance. She believed in working at increasing one’s obedience to God, and she also regarded poverty as an incentive to work to support the convent without begging. She encouraged the sisters to walk about in nature when their spirits needed lifting because it would help them appreciate the wonders of God’s creation.
“A truly humble person never believes that he can be wronged in anything. Truly, we ought to be shamed to resent whatever is said or done against us; for it is the greatest shame in the world to see that our Creator bears so many insults from His creatures, and that we resent even a little word that is contradictory.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
At the age of 51, Teresa was granted a patent from the Carmelite general to establish new conv
ents to spread her reform movement. For the next four years she traveled all over Spain, braving some very difficult conditions, and founded seven more convents. In addition to the rigors of travel and negotiating with property owners and financial supporters, Teresa had to cope with downright hostility from several directions. When the nuns in her former Carmelite convent elected her prioress, they were excommunicated by the leader of the Carmelite order, and a law officer was posted outside the convent door to prevent her from entering. Other religious orders in the towns where she wanted to open new convents opposed her to the point that she feared causing a riot wherever she went. The papal nuncio called her a “restless, disobedient gadabout.” She was denounced to the Inquisition by a princess who ordered Teresa to found a convent and then became enraged by Teresa’s refusal to order the nuns to wait on the princess on their knees. Such incidents only strengthened Teresa’s resolve.